BY THE WAYSIDE 
45 
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SC HO O L B RANCH D E.PA RTM BNT_ 
Every Wisconsin School Branch is required to subscribe for at least one copy of BY THE WAYSIDE 
Letters to this department should be 
written on only one side of the page, should 
give name, age and address of the writer and 
should be mailed by the first of the month; Illi¬ 
nois writers sending to Miss Mary A. Hard¬ 
man, Academy of Sciences, Chicago, Ill., and 
Wisconsin writers to Mr. Roland E. Krercers, 
Madison, Wis. To each writer whose letter 
is published will be sent an illustrated leaf¬ 
let on some bird. For the best letter each 
month we will send a second leaflet. Pre¬ 
ference will be given to letters about the 
bird study for the month and to original 
observations. 
Any Wisconsin society may, by paying 
the express, have the use of the Gordon and 
Merrill Libraries of bird books by applying 
to Mr. Kremers. 
Wisconsin parties should apply to the 
University Extension Division, Madison, for 
colored bird slides. Illinois Schools may use, 
without expense, a library or a lecture with 
lantern slides, by applying to Miss Bunnel * 1 
Academy of Sciences, Chicago. 
THE BIRD OF THE MONTH 
The Horned Lark 
"What is a lark? is a question that 
may well he asked by most Americans. 
I Some years ago, while travelling by 
t train across the western prairies, a 
meadow lark was singing its cheery 
lay outside. (Any one who has trav¬ 
elled over the prairies in summer will 
know how often that occurs). But 
the meadow lark’s song seemed to 
have no beauty for the man ahead of 
I me, for he remarked, in a rather depre¬ 
ciating tone, to his wife: “and that’s 
the celebrated skylark that so much 
i poetry has been written about!” All 
of which goes to show that “a little 
knowledge is a dangerous thing!” 
Of course we all know that a 
I 
meadow lark is not a lark at all but a 
I grackle, or a blackbird, or, if you will 
an oriole; they all belong to the same 
family. But blackbird means more to 
most of us. The skylark is a E!u 
ropean bird, which has been intro¬ 
duced several times in this country, 
and seems to be holding its own around 
the unpoetic regions of Flat bush, New 
York. 
But we have some real relatives of 
the skylark among our native birds, 
though they possess but little of the 
skylark’s power of song. They are 
the Horned Lark or Shore Lark, and 
the Prairie Horned Lark. The Horned 
Lark is so called because on each side 
of the head it has a tuft of elongated 
feathers, looking for all the world like 
the horns of Mephistopheles himself. 
1 shall not try to describe the other 
ERAIIIIE HORNED LARK 
markings of this lark, you must look 
them up in your bird book. This bird 
comes to us only in winter, between 
November and April, and then chiefly 
in the prairie regions only. Commonly 
it travels with its Arctic companion, 
the Lapland Longspur. Its home 
(that is, the place where it rears its 
three or four young) is far to the 
north, even as far as Boothia and 
James Bay. (Now find your geogra¬ 
phies and see where those places are). 
The Prairie Horned Lark, is some¬ 
what smaller, and its face has much 
white where the Horned Lark has yel¬ 
low, It is also much more of a W’S’ 
